Moulin Rouge forces naughty burlesque show to change its name

Last week, Reyna Von Vett -- whose alter ego, Cora Vette, emcees naughty burlesque shows every Wednesday in the heart of Five Points -- got an e-mail from a business in France asking her to cease and desist using the name of their venue in the title of her show.

The venue? Why, the Moulin Rouge, of course.

The show uses the music from the Baz Luhrmann 2001 epic film of the same name, and Von Vett was very careful not to infringe on any film copyright issues -- so the e-mail from the nightclub took her by surprise when she received it last Thursday.

"I just have to laugh," she recalls. "The letter mentioned potential copyright infringement and trademark violation, and basically said, 'Just don't use our name.'"

As if anyone in Denver is going to confuse the Crossroads Theater, 2590 Washington Street -- whose liquor license (or lack thereof) has already caused plenty of insanity -- with the infamous "gentleman's club" across the pond.

"The last thing I want to do is piss people off," Von Vett says. "But I'm kind of rude, so I thought it was kind of funny."

Hence, a title change: The show whose name cannot be spoken -- which is running for two more Wednesday nights at the Crossroads -- is now titled, "BurlyCute Presents Music of the Moulin Rude Burlesque!"

"I added 'burlesque' as well," Von Vett says, because a few people bought tickets to what they thought was a theater show and ended up watching (very talented) women strip down to pasties and thongs.

"I was going to call it: I See London, I See a Place in France That I'm Not Allowed to Talk About Anymore," she says, "but that was too long. The funny thing was, the letter wasn't even addressed properly. It was to us -- they got the right e-mail address -- but it was, 'Dear Mr. Somebody-else-I've-never-heard-of.'

"So I changed it right away," she says. "I wasn't about to get myself into trouble."

Trouble at a burlesque show?! Perish the thought!

There's no update yet on when the liquor license issue will be resolved, but we'll keep you posted as we hear more. In the meantime, get tickets for tonight's show by clicking here.